3-D modeling/animation apps

I know this has been discussed each year, but I felt that some discussion needs to happen around this topic yet again.

According to the current game industry, most companies require firm knowledge of Maya modeling and animation skills. If people are serious about working for professional firms or even in the general game industry, should 3-D newbies just learn with Maya Personal edition and bypass all the other 3-D suites?

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Besides 3-D Studio Max, most industry standard graphic and 3-D intensive apps are already cross-platform. OS flexibility/skill is not really an issue nowadays. I think it would be a good idea to create a list of 3-D apps and categorize them. I'll start it:

gatti Wrote:Besides 3-D Studio Max, most industry standard graphic and 3-D intensive apps are already cross-platform. OS flexibility/skill is not really an issue nowadays. I think it would be a good idea to create a list of 3-D apps and categorize them. I'll start it:

Industry standard (commercial apps)

Maya

3-D Studio Max --- not cross platform

Electric Image Animation System --- not used in game development

SoftImage --- not cross platform

Lightwave

Studio grade

Carrara 3 --- not used in game development

Cinema 4D --- rarely used in professional game development

Hash Animation Master --- only used by studios with no budget

Wings 3D --- rarely used in general, not studio grade, no animation or rendering

Blender (Is this a 3D app, or development suite) -- both

There must be more. Let's build this list and hopefully at some point have a place on the idevgame site where this list can be presented with links to eductional versions and product descriptions.

As long as you don't forget that it's you who has to do the modelling/animation, you can use pretty much everything.

I've been using Cinema 4D for some time now, mostly because of its user interface, but I've found that I can easily switch between 3D apps. Just don't give me 3D Studio Max. I just hate that application.

But I guess Maya is better also because it has more file exporters than Cinema 4D

"If you are any good then the platform is transparent. The same is true of coding."

While this is true, I think you may be missing the point of the original post...

"If people are serious about working for professional firms or even in the general game industry"

The key here is working for a professional firm. If you expect to get hired by a specific firm then you are going to have to use the software and hardware they already have established. I've worked mainly in the design and publishing field and while the software differs the concept remains the same. Companies already have workflow and systems in place and new employees need to fit into that balance. If they don't fit or are at least unwilling to adapt then chances are they will not get hired. If you are proficient in Cinema4D and want to work for a Maya shop, you can't expect them to adapt to you, and certainly you couldn't be an island working on your own platform. Jobs need to get passed around on a regular basis, everyone in the shop needs to be able to access and use everyone else's files, just like the design and publishing business.

Now if you were thinking of going freelance or starting your own shop then truly you could pick and choose jobs that would make the difference in software or hardware transparent. As long as the finished product is what the client asks for usually they are not so particular how you got to that point, unless of-course some special demands are made so they can put the files back into their specific workflow at some point, then that may become and issue.

skyhawk Wrote:I've seen many terrain generators, but I have YET to see something with the power and versatility (and nice rendering) of bryce

Thats probably because none of them have been on the market for 10 years like Bryce has. Just think for some of the people here, they were still in diapers, or at least kindergarten when Bryce came out (same for lightwave and Cinema4D).

BeyondCloister Wrote:Because when someone searches this site they will not find anything if there is just a link to an external site.

True but many people tend to not search the site (as is found by the same questions being asked over and over). Its much more logical to search the resources of the particular application at the developers website, places like 3Dbuzz,3Dlinks or even google, than to expect the information to be here, and the links to stay updated.

igame3d Wrote:True but many people tend to not search the site (as is found by the same questions being asked over and over). Its much more logical to search the resources of the particular application at the developers website, places like 3Dbuzz,3Dlinks or even google, than to expect the information to be here, and the links to stay updated.

If the main idevgames site had this information for game developers there would be no need to ask questions of this kind. This collective process will be used to tie up this basic question for modelers and animators who are new to game development. idevgames should most definitely contain information of this kind or else it's not providing visual artists with the same level of education as it does for programmers.

ProRattaFactor
(Retro-infused games for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Mac)